„Fröhliche Weihnachten!“
A perfect way to finish off a Christmas concert. Heribert Breuer, founder and conductor of the Berlin Bach Academy, conceived this four-minute piece as a final farewell to follow performances of the Christmas Oratorio. Alternatively it can easily be programmed together with other Christmas pieces with similar scoring.
The Sicilian folk tune O sanctissima gradually emerges from a sustained organ pedal point in the orchestra. This melody seems familiar to the listeners ... and then the mystery is solved: hidden in the alto part can be heard the first verse of the German carol O du fröhliche! The second verse is given over to the sopranos, and the audience is invited to sing along in the third verse. After a brief coda all the performers wish the audience “Merry Christmas!”
As an alternative to this orchestral version (Carus 10.214/00), choirs now also have the chance to perform this popular encore piece in a reduced version for choir and organ (Carus 10.214/45).
Listen
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- „Fröhliche Weihnachten!“
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Composer
Heribert Breuer
| 1945Heribert Breuer was born on 27 September 1945 in Heidelberg. He spent the first half of his life as a cantor in Lübeck, Würzburg and Aachen. After leaving the church, he took up a professorship at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he remained until his retirement in 2010. He was awarded the Rome Prize (Villa Massimo), the Bavarian State Prize and scholarships in Olevano and Worpswede. As a conductor and organist, he travelled extensively in Spain and South America. His compositional work increasingly specialised in unusual versions of old masters: Bach's ‘Art of Fugue’ and the Goldberg Variations, Schubert's ‘Swan Song’, Brahms' Requiem and the ‘Four Serious Songs’ for chamber ensemble. Many of these works were written for the Berlin Bach Academy, which he founded in 1991. His hobbies include travelling, the Spanish language and the wines of Hermann Dörflinger. (August 2025) Personal details
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